It took me forever to learn. Actually two or three times to actually strap my other foot in!! haha then i took a set of lessons from our local club. I think its safe to say its what I needed and progressed pretty rapidly. I'm to the point now where my freeriding is where it should be.

Snowolf and youtube pretty much taught me. I read and watched a bunch before my first time out. The very first run I just thought back on what I learned on here and put it into action. Im 28 and only started last year, none of my friends really ride so either I go by myself or my brother in law who skis. So it kinda sucks for motivation and noone to teach you. Ill get a private lesson this year. I took a group lesson that didnt really do shit. But this old ass dude at Wilmot gave me some great advice on turning toeside, bc I could not do it for shit, I think I was scared to have my back down the hill. But yeah, even tho when Snowolf posts I have to read it 5 times cuz hes so tech it helps alot. Thanks Snowolf. Anyone else ride solo?

YOUTUBE FTWI lived in Maryland all of my life. Im half Filipino, so that particular side of the family lives in California..I've actually been spoiled due to the fact that i havent really done any east coast (ice coast) riding and i learned on larger West Coast mountains..

1st Experience- I was roughly the age of 13 at the time, my uncle is an enthusiastic snowboarder, luckily only living 2.5 hrs away from Lake Lahoe and dragged me along to Sierra-at-Tahoe since he had an extra setup. He took me straight to the Blue run to start learning My balance was exceptional due to my background in skateboarding, cant say much for my turning ability at this point, most of my day consisted of flat riding and catching edges. I would stand, make it a decent distance down the mountain, get speed anxiety and fall to slow myself down At one point I accidentally veered off course onto a mogul black diamond which looked absolutely terrifying. I had no balls to even try it so i unstrapped my back binding and literally spun on my back down the entire run, it sucked. By the end of the day, i was eager to try snowboarding again and went home satisfied with my first performance and a crescent shaped gash on my back from catching on an ice patch

2nd Experience- Second experience was with my girlfriend. I believe i was roughly 19 at the time, so it had been a while since my last time on snow. She and I went to Massanuten, a shrimpy ski resort in VA. Unfortunately i had to rent equipment from the resort and it consisted of a crap Lamar board with step-on bindings. I entertained my girlfriend on the bunny slope until she got tired of falling at went back to the car after an hour. I left my girlfriend in the car for 5 hours , she was irate, but i wasnt wasting the lift ticket. By this experience, i was 6'2 190lb, and older so i wasnt as fearless as the first time i went. I went down blue runs, trying to remember the concept of turning. I cant say that i progressed much on this trip.

3rd Experience- I would have to say this experience was my favorite experience. 6'5 230lbs, I went this past christmas at the age of 22 back to Lake Tahoe with my uncle. This time, i bought my own gear a week before the trip. I purchased an Arbor Roundhouse, Ride SPI bindings, and Ride FUL boots off of a whim. I had a feeling that having my own quality setup would benefit me, not to mention i got it all 20% off because im a college student. During the trip to tahoe, we went to Sugarbowl and back to Sierra-at-Tahoe. If anyone on this forum was in the area at this time u will recall the stacks of fresh powder that graciously fell on the mountains. Powder was AMAZING. I seemed to float on clouds. It was a completely different experience than on groomers. Things to note, my uncle set my stance back, he said i would need it, he told me to carry my speed and dont turn to hard or i would sink. Sure enough, my first run 50ft off the lift chair, i spent 10 mins digging myself out of the top 4ft layer of pow. All the youtube videos in the world didnt prepare me for it, lol. By the way, before this trip, i watched a months worth of youtube videos on carving, linking turns, etc, because this was my weakest area. I was doing awesome after i adjusted. I will say this, the elevation at Tahoe is the shit, the runs are miles long. I f you want to learn, Tahoe is a place to do it. After the first day, i realized that my turns still sucked, i was so beat by the end of the day. I was a hip swinger, more so throwing my board under me rather than using torsional flex and proper turn iniation. I couldnt grasp these things even on my second day. My noob method got me kept me on my feet, and my uncle dragged me to black diamonds. I was so nervous. That sh** looked so steep peeking over the drop. I found that turning on black diamonds was easier. The gravity seemed to make me parallel to the mountain on my heelside and toeside turns. This was awesome. I fell a LOT, but hey, 3rd trip ever and im making my way down a black diamond??? I felt accomplished, not to mention the soft pow cushioned my falls .

4th Experience- This is my most recent experience. 5 days ago on the ice coast, Liberty Mountain in PA. I went with my buddy and his family. The conditions were icy/ hardpack groomed. After looking into torsional flex a bit more, i decided my Arbor Roundhouse was too stiff for a noob like me, and i needed a softer board. After a lot of research i ended up grabbing a Never Summer Revolver (wide version of the Evo), Union Forces, and some new boots. With the soft flex of the board and the Rocker.Camber technology i hoped this would improve my turning and reduce my chances of catching edges, and i could also venture into the park terrain when i became more confident in my riding abilities. All i can say is WOW. It seems like my abilities increased TENFOLD. I could feel the flex of the board under my feet when i pressed my toe and heels like pedals to intitiate my turns. I effortlessly stay on edge. I honestly didnt fall more than twice. The rocker seemed to help a lot and it felt completely different than the positive camber of my arbor board.I think a soft and forgiving board was a key to my acceleration in learning. I was so excited and i called up my uncle to ask if the season was over yet in Tahoe. The second day of this trip i got the balls to try small terrain. I literally sat at the drop to the box for 25 minutes watching kids press, spin, and switch ride. I sucked it up and hit the box, except i was going to fast and i flew over the damn thing. LOL, and i landed it!!!!!! YES!!! At this point i got the balls to try rails and weird shaped boxes with kickers. I didnt do anything fancy, just 50-50s, but a lot of kids, surprisingly were supportive and told me to start slow and dont leave my comfort zone. I did bonk my ass a couple times and it hurt like hell. I went to the bunny slopes and practiced butters (I AM SHIT), im still trying to get used to edge awareness when flat ground spinning, but i can pull off mad tail presses (manual?) for at least 65ft with the nose of my board 2ft off the ground For some reason i feel more comfortable nollieing than ollieing?? any input on that would be appreciated, but my next investments shall be asspads and a helmet!

FUTURE GOALS: On my next trip, i plan on changing up my stance a little bit, currently im 15+/-6 and i would love to learn to ride switch before i try any rotations on boxes, and jumps. I would also like to learn to butter and tail block because i think that stuff is so impressive and looks hella fun to do. SO, in conclusion, my analysis of myself was, i picked up turning and edge awareness much faster on more difficult runs (i feel that flat runs suck for beginners because u are going so slow u are more worried about balance than turning), and the only way to get better is to fall. I WILL SAY THAT YOUTUBE IS A FREAKING AWESOME INSTRUCTOR AND SNOWOLFS VIDS ALSO HELPED A LOT!! Thanks for readin my story MY 5TH TRIP IS IN 2 WEEKS!!!! YES!!!!

Got called up by a friend who wanted to know if I wanted to go snowboarding.. I said hell yes and I was on my way to my first snowboarding experience. She took me onto a blue, where she did a great job explaining how to stop. She didn't do a great job at telling me how to turn. She ditched me after the very first run, and I taught myself for the rest of the day. By the end of the day, I think I made it down the blue without falling once.

Second experience, another friend of mine took me onto a black and told me something to the effect of "learn now or die!!!" So.. without much of a choice, I learned and I learned very quickly. By the end of that day I was bombing down, doing pretty well.

Third experience, on my own, it all clicked. The technique just came to me and I fell in love. Bought all my own gear soon after and have only gotten way more comfortable. Still learning and gaining the testicular tenacity to try different features, jumps and tricks.

This was all about February of 2010. Right now, Feb 2011, I'm currently getting better at 180's and grabs off of jumps, riding boxes/rails, perfecting my switch riding etc.

I learned from watching all of Snowwolf's beginner and intermediate lesson videos on youtube.
I've only been riding 5 times so to say I'm stil learning is an understatement. But, I was able to link my turns the first time out (after about 2 hours or so). I can ollie, albiet going slow and actually pulled off a 180 on an embankment this weekend. Rode up the embankment on the slope, ollied and pulled a 180 and rode back down the embankment. I was pretty stoked.

Oh and half the time I go out I go out alone. All of my friends ski and they don't want to go as often as I do. I enjoy riding alone though.

Learned how to board back when i was 8 or so, my parents skied as did i for a little then i got into boards took lessons got pretty alright then gave up for skateboarding.

Middle of the season i went up a friends house, he had made an entire terrain park in his back yard(it is a pretty large yard in the woods) decided id give it a shot strapped into one of his brothers boards and took off toward the jumps was landing backside 180s at the end of the day and was really loving boarding so i decided to buy a cheap board knowing the season was almost over then last weekend i got a text from my friend saying he wanted to go to a resort and do some slopes/trails, i excitedly went......oh boy was i in over my head, i could keep up with my friends right up untill we got off the lift lol, they went off and did thier black diamonds and i just cruised(fell) on all the greenies. After about 3 hours of greens i went up to blues and by the end of the day had been linking the corners in the blue pretty well.

So self re taught. Now i just wanna get a park board and start killin ramps and rails, my end goal for next season is a 100 footer...or a rodeo cuzz they look cool to me. Maybe il just combine the two goals.

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Life is a giant high five, huck it every chance you get.

alright so one day just outta the blue my friend just asks if i wanna go to the local mtn. so i figure what the hell and grab my couysins stuff and go as we were walking up to get our lift tickets i asked if he was gunna ditch me and his answer was not if you can keep up. you can figure out the rest. i was scared shitless of being the loner that sucked so i learnd fast withen an houe or too i could stop and kinda keep my speed under control in like 2 hours i was keeping up with guys that have riden for years. now im hooked and go as many time i possibly can. so i guess i learend by myself trying to not be alone

I started last year around this time. I took a group lesson which was a big waste of my money. Everything that we went over was covered in this forum. I have definitely taught my self a lot. I just hope I'm teaching my self the right techniques.